Things to Do In Aurora: 3. High Line Canal Trail

When we first moved to Aurora I was a little cranky about being surrounded by suburbia and chain stores. This must be Middle America, I thought. This is where culture goes to die. But then I stopped being pretentious and found some cool shit to do.

Here's something cool I do pretty much every day: take a walk on the High Line Canal Trail. You can't really hate a town that has a well-maintained, convenient, and beautiful path for walking and biking.

Okay, no, you can still hate it. The cat clearly does. Look at those angry ears!

Anyway, the trail apparently goes all the way from Aurora to Littleton. I don't actually know where Littleton is, because I just moved here (people keep saying stuff like, "oh, it's in Centennial!" or "I live in Boulder" or "have you been to Arvada?" and we're like, no...we literally just moved here a few weeks ago, we don't know where ANYTHING is), but apparently the trail is over 70 miles long. I just walk the part that starts on my street (Potomac) and goes past a school and then Del Mar Park. One day I walked all the way to Centennial Park, which was almost 5 miles one way.

Yeah, I'm pretty badass.

Gimme some more of the sweet, traily goodness!

The walking doesn't get boring, partly because I'm always listening to podcasts, but also because there's always something interesting to look at. I've seen rabbits, butterflies, grasshoppers...

This one is totally chill and let me get up close and personal for a photo.

...and one day I saw a coyote! I was walking along, listening to Radiolab or Mystery Show or something equally amazing, when a group of about five elementary-aged kids rode past like a tiny biker gang. They stopped up ahead of me and stood around pointing at the golf course, so when I got closer I stopped to see what they were looking at. There was a coyote jogging through the golf course!

My local neighborhood coyote-spotters! They actually high-fived each other upon realizing how cool their discovery was. It was epic.

A temporary sign along the trail had announced "You Are In Coyote Country" and provided some safety tips, so I know what to do if a coyote approaches: make yourself as big as possible, loudly yell at the coyote to go away (or, more likely in this moment of terror, to fuck off), and slowly move toward more-populated areas. Of course, if the coyote is not very close to you, the appropriate reaction is to take a picture.

He's not interested in eating children or power-walkers today. He has a taste for that sweet, plaid-encased golfer flesh.

But animals are not the only exciting and sometimes-terrifying attraction of High Line Canal Trail. Take a look at this guy:

This is not a real person. At least I hope not, because I've walked by several times and he doesn't move. Also I've taken pictures of him.

I just about jumped out of my skin the first time I saw him. I think this is some psychopath's idea of a crime deterrent: it gives the riffraff (we plebs who walk or ride on the trail) the sensation that they're being watched, which makes them less likely to consider stealing what I'm sure is an impressive collection of World of Warcraft figurines (because this guy clearly doesn't get out much).

Seriously, though, he's so creepy, even when you've convinced yourself he's fake:

Gazing forever upon the path with those soulless eyes. Watching. Waiting.

I think I prefer the coyote.

Next time on Things to Do in Aurora: 4. Go to the Library! I'm not even joking. All libraries are awesome but Aurora's might be awesomer than most. For example, it probably has a dictionary which could tell me that awesomer is not a word. But I'm a renegade, so you'll have to deal with it.